Panel considers interim director

Search may take longer for Visitors Bureau chief.

November 29, 2006|By Peter Franceschina Staff Writer

A committee to find a new chief executive for the Palm Beach County Convention and Visitors Bureau in the wake of a financial scandal involving a $1.5 million theft wants to appoint an interim director while the search goes on.

The bureau's former president and chief executive, Warren "Mac" McLaughlin, retired under pressure earlier this month.

The bureau's board of directors selected an eight-person search committee that met last week and recommended that an interim director be put in place because a search for a permanent replacement could take three to four months. The board of directors, which meets Friday, would need to approve an interim hire.

One of the committee members suggested the permanent replacement get a pay package in a "range starting $150,000-$175,000 with a bonus structure and generous benefit package," according to minutes of last week's meeting.

McLaughlin was paid about $157,000 last year in county tax dollars and received a $13,800 bonus from private money collected from dues from bureau members. The search committee anticipates spending about $50,000 to hire a firm to perform a national search, according to a memo from the board's attorney sent Monday to county officials.

The board last week imposed strict guidelines for the oversight of accounting, financial reports and audits.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau is a nonprofit organization that contracts with the county to promote Palm Beach County as a tourist destination. It is primarily funded through hotel bed-tax dollars, about $9.6 million this year.

The bureau was thrown into turmoil on Oct. 23 when bank officials alerted McLaughlin that there were financial irregularities involving controller Donna M. Duffer, who allegedly admitted to stealing from the bureau to pay online gambling debts. Duffer was fired, and police are investigating.

Teams of auditors are now going through the bureau's books to determine exactly how much was taken.